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'Pastoral' Tagged Posts

Why Church?

Why ChurchThere are a lot of options in the Bay Area when it comes to community groups, spiritual paths, and places to be of service. What makes a church different? What can we do together as a group that cannot be done in other ways? Last week, we looked at “why church” from the perspective of what an individual or family can gain from being part of a church. This week, we will explore “why church” in the larger scheme of things. Do churches such as Montclair Presbyterian have a particular to role to play in the community? in the culture? Do join us at 10:00 a.m. on Sunday.

The Power of Symbols

Happy All Saints Day! I  love the “dancing saints” at St. Gregory of Nissa Church in San Francisco.  Completed in 2009, this wonderful 3,000 square foot painting depicts a staggering variety of traditional and surprising saints depicted in a style that recalls ancient iconography and yet all of them are dancing.  The artist,  Mark Dukes, collaborated with the congregation to select and…

Commuting Fear

Anything scares me, anything scares anyone but really after all considering how dangerous everything is nothing is really very frightening. – Gertrude Stein in Everybody’s Autobiography (1932)     My first two weeks of commuting to Montclair from our home in San Francisco have been way more interesting than we might have expected!  The first week, the Bay Bridge was closed and…

Not My Finest Moment…

Don’t you just hate those times in your life when you completely lose it and turn in to someone you would rather not know exists? Come on, you know what I am talking about…at least I hope you do because if you don’t it means I am even worse than I imagine! People have asked me what are my pet peeves. Here…